Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Comparative StudyNo effect of time of day at presentation to the emergency department on the outcome of patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit.
To determine if an association exists between the time of day when a patient presents to ED and their outcome for those admitted directly to the ICU. ⋯ The time of day patients arrive at the ED has no association with length of stay in ED, intensive care or hospital, time on the ventilator, or mortality for those who are admitted to the ICU.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Comparative StudySick leave in the emergency department: staff attitudes and the impact of job designation and psychosocial work conditions.
To examine patterns of, and attitudes to, sick leave taken by ED and other hospital staff and to compare ED doctor and nurse psychosocial work conditions. ⋯ Emergency department staff generally report healthy psychosocial work conditions. However, the high rate of ED nurse sick leave might be related to their considerable psychological job demand and perceived lack of supervisor support.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Case Reports'Mass allergy': acute scombroid poisoning in a deployed Australian Defence Force health facility.
On the last night of disaster relief operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, a mass casualty event occurred that involved deployed Australian Defence Force personnel. Symptoms of acute urticaria, angioedema, wheeze and gastrointestinal upset were experienced to varying degrees by 16% of the deployed element. The present report describes a presumed scombroid poisoning cluster and demonstrates the difficulties of operating in a deployed environment, the confusion that might be associated with evolving non-kinetic mass casualties, and provides a learning opportunity for an unusual mass casualty incident.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Comparative StudyComparison of visual analogue and Likert scales in evaluation of an emergency department bedside teaching programme.
The present study compares visual analogue scale (VAS) to Likert-type scale (LTS) instruments in evaluating perceptions of an ED bedside clinical teaching programme. A prospective study was conducted in the ED of an urban, adult tertiary hospital. Prospective pairing occurred of a teaching consultant and registrar who were relatively quarantined from normal clinical duties. ⋯ An ED bedside teaching programme is perceived to be a beneficial educational intervention. The VAS is a reliable and valid alternative to the LTS for educational evaluation and might provide advantages in educational measurement. Further research into the significance of extreme values and educationally important changes in scores is required.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Emergency department knowledge management in the age of Web 2.0: evaluation of a new concept.
The objective of the present study was to describe the implementation of an organizational learning model and evaluate the effectiveness and usability of an application used to facilitate it in an ED setting. ⋯ We demonstrate the implementation of an organizational learning model based on independent online sites networking together within an organization. This appears to be both usable and acceptable to staff members working in a large ED as a means of knowledge management.